


well i heard from the rest of the world you're in trouble

by serenitysea



Series: call me up day or night; free drinks and bad advice [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Banter, Damsels in Distress, F/M, Humor, Romance, Snark, a little cracky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 09:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3891754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenitysea/pseuds/serenitysea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>aka</b>: <i>aka: the one where ward comes out of the hellmouth, meets skye’s parents, tangles with her <s>new boy</s>friend and ruffles ALL the feathers along the way.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	well i heard from the rest of the world you're in trouble

“Take my hand, Skye.” Lincoln is watching her with the kind of alertness that signals trouble, the kind of trouble that you never have enough time to prepare for.

On the other side of her, Ward stands stiffly at attention. He has yet to leave her.

“What are you _waiting_ for?” The distress and panic bleeding into Lincoln’s tone is rising as the moments extend.

Skye looks to Ward. The expression in his eyes is unreadable. He loosens his muscles by degrees just enough to open his hand to her.

“ _Skye_!”

* * *

**TWO DAYS EARLIER**.

* * *

There’s this awful sounding _fzzzzt_! sound and then suddenly, Grant Ward is sprawled at her feet.

To be completely honest, it takes Skye a few seconds to think of a proper response. “Well, well, well… Look what the Hellmouth spat out.”

“Feels like it,” Ward admits, standing up carefully and dusting off his clothes. Specialist Black (with fetching leather jacket) never looked so good.  

Skye doesn’t bother masking the incredulity on her face. “Do I even _want_ to know?”

“Well, it turns out that Coulson worries far more than a typical director should and I —”

“— if you say you _were in the neighborhood_ , so help me —”

“— was in the neighborhood,” He smirks, eyes flickering over to the compound. “So. How long are you planning to stay at the Inhuman summer camp?”

*

Because this is a somewhat close-knit community — and because they don’t bother with menial things like TV or the internet, and therefore lack much by the way of entertainment — news of Ward’s arrival travels like wildfire among the people.

She thinks it’s kind of poetic that her father is the first one to greet him; one outsider to another, in a way.

“Hey! It’s that guy from Hydra! Good to see you alive, son!”

Skye can’t help but snicker quietly. Ward raises a hand in greeting. “Cal.”

“It’s like a grand reunion!” Cal strolls over jauntily, all beaming smiles and wide, fluttering gestures. “You have to meet my —” he twists his mouth with disapproval as he attempts to re-catagorize his thoughts. It doesn’t take a clairvoyant to know he’s struggling to keep the conversation positive and light when he really just wants to throw down. “Jiaying. She’s in charge.”

At the sight of Jiaying, Ward is suddenly (weirdly) on his best behavior. The smirk melts away, and Skye is confronted with the face she knows only too well — sincerity bleeding from his pores, with only the stubble hiding those familiar cheekbones, adding a element of danger that is entirely new.

“Grant Ward,” he says, clasping Jiaying’s hand firmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

It’s alarming.

When both her parents and Ward turn her way, Skye realizes she said that last part out loud.

Something that looks perilously close to a smile ghosts his lips but Ward ducks his head too quickly for her to make sense of it.

“Our community is very much peaceful one,” Jiaying explains, beginning to walk as they naturally fall in step with her. The rest of the crowd seems to break apart and return to their duties at her unspoken command. Skye still doesn’t understand how it all works; it seems crazy that her mother should be in charge of this. She belatedly realizes that it might be prudent to tune back into the conversation just in time to hear Jiaying say: “We’ll find you accommodations in one of the guest houses.”

Cal stays in one of the _guest houses_. It’s not exactly where she wants Ward to be — if for no other reason than she can’t imagine leaving him unattended being a _good_ idea.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Skye mutters, slowing her steps until she comes to a complete stop. Her parents and Ward turn back to her expectantly. “…He can stay with me.”

Ward doesn’t pretend not to smile this time.

Lincoln appears from one of the side paths. “Are you sure that’s the best idea? You should probably focus on resting after the stress you’ve just been through.”

“What is it that you think we’ll be doing that’s going to keep Skye,” Ward drawls, eyes alight with mischief, “from resting?”

She can’t even rein it in; the frustration and embarrassment and a hundred other emotions she is unwilling to claim.

“Are you _kidding_ me right now?” The tree to their left suddenly shears in two, falling open neatly at Skye’s feet. She’s too busy glaring at Ward to apologize for the damage.

“He seems concerned for your well being.” He shrugs, the picture of nonchalance. When he replies this time, Ward has taken care to lower his voice and keeps his eyes locked on hers, “And I’ve certainly never had to think about _that_ before.”

Brisk mornings in the cargo hold on the Bus — _the Bus oh god_ — roughened hands wrapping hers delicately; learning the difference between the trigger and the magazine release; practicing her stance until her legs felt watery with effort — and all of it framed by that patient, relentless concern he was never as good at hiding as he thought.

“Let’s go,” she turns on her heel, taking fast strides to her place.

“Lovely meeting you!” Ward calls over his shoulder, jogging to catch up.

Before they’ve disappeared completely round the bend, Cal elbows Jiaying none too gently. “Are you sure about this?”

* * *

“Nice place,” Ward takes in her rooms with his typically thorough gaze; he misses nothing (thank god she’d had the foresight to tidy up before leaving this morning — _that_ would have been awkward) and she has to fight the urge to fidget.

It’s unsettling.

This space that’s been all her own for some time and yet there are times when she feels it’s nothing like home. That home is nooked into a bunk with Fitz on the other side; that she should be getting breakfast out of a galley and tucking and turning to move around the tight corners and —

Ward is talking.

“— ents seem very happy to have you here.”

Skye tries to fill in the blanks of the conversation and then decides better of it. “We’re not talking about this. Why don’t you tell me what you’re really doing here. We both know that being Coulson’s errand boy isn’t at all your style. ”

“But it is why I’m here. I told you,” He insists, raising his hands innocently. “I’ll never lie to you again.”

“Right.” She rolls her eyes. As if that’s supposed to mean something to her. Ward knows his way around the block, which means he knows _exactly_ how to say things and not break _that_ particular promise. “Since you’re staying for now, you might as well make yourself comfortable. There isn’t a hell of a lot to do.”

“Are you suggesting we —”

“— I’m _suggesting_ you make yourself real friendly with that _couch_ —”

“— find a better way to pass the time?” The arch interest in his tone absolutely does not make her tingle all over. Nor does it evoke any sort of images she hasn’t been busily suppressing after seeing him in that hallway with Coulson days ago.

She is faced with a vision of just what _exactly_ could happen if they found themselves with too much time on their hands and not enough to distract them.

She needs some way to occupy him.

(God, does she _ever_.)

This is going to be a _long_ night.

* * *

Skye wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for air. _Nightmares_. It’s just a nightmare.

From across the room she hears Ward mumble, “Skye?”

“It’s nothing,” she whispers, then inwardly shakes her head because _why is she whispering_ when he’s already awake? “I’ll be back in a couple minutes. Forgot to check in with the night watchman.”

She slips out the side door before he can stop her, feeling only marginally better as she starts along the outermost path of the other residences.  

“Watch your step,” Raina’s voice comes floating across the clearing, startling Skye badly and forcing her to pull in her abilities with an almost desperate grab. “Wouldn’t want you to get hurt. There are all sorts of monsters here.”

The automatic ’ _you’re the monster_ ’ seems unnecessarily harsh in the darkness of night and she’s still feeling so off kilter (for reasons she does not care to think about) that she gives Raina a pass. “Didn’t see you there.”

But Raina hasn’t gotten to where she is by playing dumb — and ferreting out weaknesses is so ingrained in her that she probably doesn’t know how to turn it off. She peers more closely at Skye. “Somebody isn’t sleeping… Bad dreams plaguing your beauty rest, Skye?”

It’s unnerving how well Raina knows exactly what to say to piss her off. “Save it,” she raises her hand, just _itching_ to fling Raina into a tree or against a wall — ultimately knowing that kind of reaction is exactly what the other woman wants and somehow finding the control to pull back.

“Your loss.” She shrugs delicately. “Maybe I could have helped you.”

“I doubt it,” Skye replies, derision inlaid in her tone with an undercurrent of sweetness.

“More’s the pity. You can’t save them both, you know.”

“I don’t want to save _anyone_. God, no one even _needs_ saving.”

“Careful, Skye.” Raina tips her head in consideration, trailing a hand along the cherry blossoms littering the bench. “That’s the kind of thinking that sucked you into this mess in the first place.”

She’s not even going to dignify that with a response. Clearly, she’s here because she wants to be.

Skye whirls around and stalks to the pagoda in silence. Trees rustle in her wake and she’s so frustrated that she can’t even bring herself to care.

Who even _asked_ Raina for her creepy otherworldly advice?

* * *

When she gets back, Ward is fully awake on the couch, reading. He doesn’t take his eyes away from the book other than a reflexive quick scan to make sure she’s not bearing any major injuries and refrains from comment.

After the silence has gone on longer than she can stand, Skye finally breaks. “ _Well_?”

Ward lifts his eyebrows in mild consideration. “Was there something you wanted?”

“Aren’t you going to ask me where I went?”

He sets aside the book with a smile, crossing his leg as if he hasn’t a care in the world. “Is there something you need to tell me, Skye?”

It’s annoying. It’s so _annoying_ that he can just sit there and be calm and totally unaffected by this. Like it’s not the _weirdest thing in the history of ever_ that he’s spending the night in her room; that he’s met her parents and acted like the perfect boyfriend; that he _came for her_ when everyone else couldn’t even find the front door on a map.

This is in no way normal.

And honestly, it’s sometime after 2AM. She just doesn’t have it in her to play this game right now.

Ward must sense her change in emotion (she doesn’t even want to know how that’s even possible) and unfolds himself from the couch, coming to stand before her. “You okay?”

There are about half a dozen ways she can proceed from here.

 

She does not say:  

_of course i’m not okay you unfairly handsome jerk_

She does not say:

_i’d be more okay if we made good use of that bed over there_

She does not say:

_no one would ever have to know, honestly_

 

She blurts: “Raina thinks you and Lincoln are damsels in distress that need saving.”

It should be a crime against the _universe_ that he can grin like that at this ridiculous hour of the morning. “To be honest, I do distress fairly well.”

It’s official. She’s stepped into a parallel universe. That’s what this is.

“Get some sleep,” Skye shuffles back into her bed. “I have a feeling Mom is going to put you to work tomorrow.”

When he hums in approval, she absolutely does _not_ allow that comforting sound to warm her up and carry her off to sleep

That would be insane.

* * *

She knows all about Ward’s absurdly early internal wakeup call at 5:30 and because she’s not going to be fooling anyone with these bags under her eyes, decides a little fun is in order.

(She deserves a lot of fun, to be honest. No one should have to suffer through the humiliation she did yesterday without getting a little something back from it.)

There’s a glass of water on her nightstand and she cracks a tiny smile as it leaps out and dances in the air before arrowing directly at Ward’s face.

The spluttering noises he makes are _extremely_ gratifying.

“What the _hell_ , Skye?”

She shrugs, the picture of innocence. “Time to get up. We start early here at summer camp.”

Ward is _definitely_ swearing under his breath as she slides out of bed with nothing more than a tee shirt and the underwear she normally sleeps in.

And maybe it’s petty, but honestly? If she’s not getting any sleep at night — _no one_ is.

* * *

It’s the yelling that does it.

She’s running towards the raised voices and passes what appears to be a suspiciously pleased Raina looking entirely too delighted with herself (mumbling “ _told you so_ ” under her breath) and barely stops in time to avoid getting caught in the literal crossfire between Ward and Lincoln.

“ _Again_ , guys? _Really_?” She groans. They didn’t provide any kind of warning about this macho crap in the adjustment guide she’d been given after arriving and settling into her pagoda.

Lincoln’s sporting a nasty gash from his lip along the length of his jaw but in a surprising twist, it’s Ward who is looking the worse for wear.

“Why don’t you tell her the truth, Sparky?” Ward looks entirely too smug for someone who is having his ass handed to him.

Really though, it’s hardly a fair fight when Lincoln doesn’t even have to _touch_ him to do some damage.

Skye spares half a second to shoot Ward a dirty look and hisses, “You’re not exactly _helping_ right now!”

“Sure I am,” Ward dodges a bolt of lighting that seems to go wide as he steps closer to her. “You should know what you’re sticking around for.”

“And what exactly,” Skye throws up her arm reflexively, creating a momentary barrier against the energy that Lincoln keeps blasting their way, “is _that_?”

If she can just figure out what Ward is trying to tell her this might actually begin to make sense.

“He knows where Afterlife is.” It’s hard to discern what’s more startling; that Ward is speaking with that flat calm he prefers when revealing painful truths, or that he’s calling it Afterlife like he’s been here all along. 

A pit begins to form in the bottom of her stomach. That can’t possibly be true. 

“That’s crazy. Only Gordon knows where we are.”

Ward lifts his eyebrows — and it still gets on her nerves that he can slip into that lecturing, _I know more than you_ condescending tone faster than she can blink. “You sure about that?”

She opens her mouth to protest and —

*

_She needs to understand why Fitzsimmons are so hellbent on figuring Lincoln out. She also needs to know if he’s well enough to travel the Gordon Express, so this is one of those handy instances where she gets to kill two birds with one stone._

_Currently, she’s inspecting his file while he starts going on about something that seems like it might be relevant — if not for the fact that she feels this invisible deadline riding on her shoulders. Gordon is definitely coming for them — and they have to be ready for when he arrives. Probably she should be preparing to say goodbye to Fitz and Jemma too — but they might tell Coulson she’s leaving and she can’t afford to let that happen._

_“Basically if there’s an electrical current on site, I can determine where we are at any given time.”_

_“Useful,” Skye distractedly purses her lips, trying to make heads or tails of the scribbling in the margins. “Jeez Fitz, would it have killed you to stay within the lines?”_

_“This isn’t more of a big deal to you?” Lincoln almost looks put out by the fact that she’s not reacting to his grand announcement with more fanfare._

_Skye turns the chart sideways and squints harder. “If I could just…”_

_“_ Skye _.”_

_She drops the chart quickly. “— What? No. What?”_

_He sighs heavily. “Can you just help me out of here so we can go home?”_

_“Sorry.” Feeling somewhat chastened — and okay, a little guilty that she wasn’t paying more attention to him in the first place — she nods. “Yeah.”_

*

— Skye takes precious care to keep her voice level and emotions in check. “You’ve have been keeping this location from me since _day one_ and you knew where we were the _whole time_!”

“I was following orders,” Lincoln insists — and it’s not his fault that her face goes white from the strain; that nostalgia just came by and slammed her down onto a metal staircase like she’d been thrown into a timeout with no way to protest.

Ward inhales sharply. “Don’t do it,” he mutters, keeping his head down. “Don’t do —”

“— You have to _understand_! I was trying to protect —”

“— aaaaaaand you did it,” Ward closes his eyes momentarily in faux-disappointment.

It’s the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

“That’s _it_ ,” She angrily mutters to Ward, feeling like she’s going to level the place out of sheer frustration. “We’ve leaving. I need to clear my head.”

Lincoln must finally realize how much of a mistake the conversation is, because he suddenly abandons it and settles on planting himself in their path.

Skye is nearly vibrating anger. “Get out of the way, Lincoln.”

“I can’t let you do this, Skye.” He remains firmly rooted where he stands, apology writ upon his face. “You know you can’t go without permission from Jiaying.”

“Lincoln.” She goes deceptively still and consciously slows her breathing. Both men recognize the move for what it is; a thinly veiled facade before she _unleashes_. “We’re _going_.”

“How can you trust him after _everything_ he’s put you through?”

Skye turns to find Ward looking at her intently, and everything becomes very simple in that moment.

There are half a dozen responses that come to mind but one seems especially appropriate for right now.

“He’ll never lie to me again,” Skye says, letting her abilities coil and build beneath her skin. “Which is a lot more than I can say for you.”

Lincoln doesn’t appear to take this news very well, which is why it is particularly handy that Ward has a pretty killer (heh) memory and knows about where he _fell in_ to Afterlife. He grabs Skye’s hand and _yanks_ , pulling her over the side of a cliff and then —

* * *

The Hellmouth is not actually a preferred method of travel — but as it turns out, portals from Afterlife into the rest of the world function about the same.

(Mostly it’s a lot of awkward landings and feeling like the wind has just been knocked out of you.)

* * *

“Well.” Ward is laying on his back and staring up at the clouds. “That probably could have gone better.”

“I don’t know,” Skye muses, cradling her broken arm to her torso. “All things considered, it could have gone a lot worse.”

Ward starts laughing and it is like _you sank my battleship_ and _if you say so, rookie_ and shaving cream on Fitz’s face and a hundred other sparkling moments that create a glow from within in her heart; the kind that pries through the cracks of leaving behind her parents without so much as a goodbye and bitter disappointment of being lied to yet _again_. The kind that makes nostalgia feel like it’s not so much an enemy but more like a friend.

So, to be clear: it’s one of the best things she’s heard in a really long time.

**Author's Note:**

> \+ [tumblr](http://b-isforbombshell.tumblr.com).  
> \+ i loge cat and lizzle  
> \+ i will try to post the sequel to this later  
> \+ in the meantime, enjoy some [meadow ward](http://b-isforbombshell.tumblr.com/post/118319199005/grant-ward-walking-across-the-meadow-like-an-armed>grant%20ward%20as%20mr.%20darcy</a>.%20#MeadowWard)


End file.
